A few miles from the stellar city,
The stellar city for the most part was enveloped by thick dense forests, with several tall hills and valleys along with a few rivers spread out.
Deep within the dense woods, a silver cracked flashed and erupted the next second as a gleaming silver figure was hurled like a projectile, crashing through multiple trees before finally coming to a halt.
Adam struggled to rise, feeling the scant remnants of mana within his core.
"What on earth was that!? Damn old man, did he set off his spell to expell out of the spati-," he coughed up more blood and halted his speech to retrieve so potions for healing.
'If it weren't for my superior Mastery over space, that minor space storm would've consud entirely,' he shuddered at the thought, realizing how narrowly he had escaped death.
'And what caused that explosion from the barrier the old man had placed on that boy—it just detonated. Was it the work of another assassin from a different group?'
Once he had finished healing so of his wounds, Adam stood up and sprinted into the forest—refraining from releasing any mana as he zigzagged in various directions after covering a certain distance.
"I was far too reckless this ti; no, this was completely my fault, damn it!," he gritted his teeth as he ran a couple more miles before stopping near a moderately sized mountain among several others.
He extended his mana to check if anyone was trailing him. After scanning in multiple directions, he finally exhaled in relief.
"I really ssed up; now I'll have to deal with that annoying jerk's punishnt once I get back to base," shaking his head, he pulled out a black bracelet and tapped on it.
A holographic screen appeared, displaying a gray profile with the na 'Sage' beneath it.
It took a mont for the call to be answered before an elderly voice ca through. "I'm already aware of the news; do you grasp what you've done?! You absolute disgrace."
Adam remained silent as he endured the Barrage of insults thrown at him.
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Inside an lavishly designed room, decorated with various paintings that adorned the walls, Loud angry voices filled the space as an old man engaged with a holographic image of a young man with long blue hair and crimson eyes who watched him silently.
"You're a failure; now get out of my sight and return to the base," the elderly man, who had long gray hair with an obvious bald spot at the crown of his head, glared at Adam.
"Your punishnt will be determined later," the old man ended the call with a sigh and at sat back into his chair.
He borrowed his head in his hands while gazing around the room, fixing his gaze on the closed door—the entrance to his office.
"Hahahahaha, what a fool! Oh Adam, you little Fool! you're just too predictable." The old man's laughter echoed throughout the room as a sly grin spread across his face.
"I wonder how you would respond if I revealed that to you, Adam!, just imagining of that, just sends chills down my spine!" After a mont, a knock sounded at the door, and the old man heard a male voice from outside.
"Sir, the pope will arrive in a few hours, please be prepared."
"Yes, you may leave now," ca the old man's voice from within the room, as the man departed.
'There are so alterations, but overall, things are progressing well — that little brat must be either dead or permanently injured given the scale of the incident that took place.'
The old man cupped his face, his eyes blazing. 'Before long, I should be able to secure additional support for my rise to power.'
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Brad was part of the investigation unit, collaborating with them regarding the sudden outbreak of an A-rank fight in the heart of the city.
At this point, he had already outlined the circumstances while omitting certain details as he made so modifications.
The unit, recording the information, headed back to their headquarters, leaving behind a ssage that they would look into the case.
Brad sighed as he made several calls, including to Ericka, Arnold, and a few others, updating them on the incident.
After soothing so of the callers, he finally reached out to Lira to check on the condition of the young master, who had sustained serious injuries.
Lira's response brought him relief as he returned to the area where he had faced the assassin, planning to conduct his own little investigation.
As Brad searched for any clues or leads, his mind drifted back to the battle.
'He was a formidable ranker, capable of going toe-to-toe with — his Enoix resonance had been a bit of a hassle for him.'
'He was definitely disguising his true appearance, and I need to reassess the strength of the "Thousand Shades" group; they are far more powerful than I had anticipated.'
Brad wandered around a bit more before reentering the restaurant, since he had seen that man erge from the top of the building.
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Lira was seated on a stool beside the bed where her young master was recuperating.
She had utilized a higher-tier life elent spell to reconstruct Noctis's right arm, but the toll on her mana was substantial.
Now, she was resting, seeking to replenish her mana and so of her ntal stamina after casting a high-level spell beyond her rank.
Although a ranker cannot increase a spell's potency by simply pouring in more mana. they can however use magic circles beyond their level at the expense of their ntal strength, provided they can construct the structure of the spell in their mind and project it.
"hmmm~," Noctis groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, staring at the blue ceiling above him, his vision a little blurry.
"Young master, you're awake! What a relief," Lira exclaid as she quickly jumped from her seat, rushing to his side and assisting him in sitting up.
"Please be careful; I have already nded your bones and reconstructed your hand; try not to move it for now," Lira promptly warned her young master.
Noctis still feeling a bit disoriented he sat on the bed, attempting to process all that Lira had just inford him.
After a few monts of silence to process everything, Lira remained quiet, as if she understood his thoughts.
"What happened to the assassin?" Noctis finally exhaled deeply and turned to Lira.
"We don't have any leads, he escaped through a spatial channel but the explosion at the end might have made it unstable or possibly caused it to collapse. We haven't found any traces of spatial mana nearby bu the incident or near beyond it."
"Hmmm," Noctis replied, glancing at his right hand which had been blasted in the explosion earlier. "Will losing my hand have long-term effects or impact my core linking, Lira?"
Lira smiled, reassuring her young master, "You don't need to worry, I used a high-level spell to reconstruct your hand, so it won't affect anything."
As if rembering sothing, Lira added, "Young master, while there are spells that can restore limbs, if a ranker loses a limb that has been linked they will need to re-link it to the core after restoration of the limb- the relinking will be quicker since so connection of previous linking remains in the mana core."
"However, the ranker's mana pool will be slightly reduced, and their mana recovery will also decline until they re-establish the link."
'Thank goodness, this wasn't also in the ga- I need will need to find so kind of way to heal myself later, I won't be always around soone with healing spells.'
Lira continued to elaborate on the repercussions of links and the core stability challenges rankers usually encounter.
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door, prompting Lira to open it. Brad entered the room and inspected his young master to ensure he was alright.
After using his mana sense to assess Noctis's condition, he relaxed and relieved to find that he was perfectly fine.
"Brad, don't worry; I'm okay-see," Noctis smiled at Brad and raised his left hand to gesture, he haven't forgetten about Lira's warning regarding his right hand.
As Brad began to bow and apologize, Noctis interrupted him already anticipating it.
"You're not at fault, Brad; besides it was quite surprising that the assassin would take such a risk, especially in the middle of the city."
"I'm not sure if he was simply confident or reckless," Noctis pondered as Brad gathered his thoughts and straightened up from bowing.
"Young master, I believe the assassin was a higher mber of the 'Thousand Shades' and must have been undercover at the restaurant we visited two days ago," Brad inford him, but was abruptly cut off by Noctis's sudden exclamation.
Noctis nodded as he listened to Brad, but when he heard the reference to two days ago, he exclaid, "Wait, what? I was knocked out for two days!"
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